• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 2015

As a nondestructive inspection technology currently in use, infrared thermography has gradually expanded its application range to industry. The method detects only defect areas by grafting ultrasound on a technique of detecting infrared energy emitted from all objects with absolute temperature of 0 K and converting this energy into thermography for inspection. Ultrasound infrared thermography has merits including the ability to inspect a wide area in a short time without contacting the target object. This study investigated the applicability of the technique for defect detection using variable ultrasound excitation inspection methods on samples of Terfenol-D, a magnetostrictive material with a tunable natural resonant frequency.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.259-265
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• 2002

Piroxicam is one of the NSAID, which is used in the systemic and topical treatment of a variety of inflammatory conditions. Conventionally, for topical use, the drug is formulated in gel. We designed an phonophoretic drug delivery system to investigate the piroxicam permeability and the influence of ultrasound application (continuous mode, pulsed mode), frequency (1.0 MHz, 3.0 MHz) and intensity $(1.0\;w/cm^2,\;1.5\;w/cm^2,\;2.0\;w/cm^2)$ with 0.5% piroxicam gel. Per cutaneous absorption studies were performed in vitro models to determine the rate of drug absorption via the skin. Permeation study using hairless mouse skin was performed at $37^{\circ}C$ using buffered saline (pH 7.4, 10% propylene glycol solution) as the receptor solution. Anti-inflammatory activity was determined using carrageenan-induced foot edema model in rat. A pronounced effect of ultrasound on the skin absorption of the piroxicam was observed at all ultrasound energy level studied. Ultrasound was carried out for 10 hr. The highest permeation was observed at intensity of $2.0\;w/cm^2$, frequency of 1.0 MHz and continuous output. The inclusion of phonophoresis was found to improve significantly the skin permeation in vitro and the anti-inflammatory activity in vivo.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.75-86
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• 1995

Embryos and fetuses are more sensitive to various environmental agents than adults of children biological effects following the exposure, such as intrauterin, malformation, have intimate conception with the prenatal exposure. There have been many studies on radiation and other agent. However, imformation about the ultrasound effects is limited. It is very important to study the effect of ultrasound with these kinds of fatera in consideration of ultrasound protection and safty. In this study, embryonic and fefal effects of ICR mouse embryos irradiated on 24, 48, 12 and 192 hpc of preimplantation and organogenesis period at the intensity of $0.5{\sim}3\;W/cm^2$ were investigated. Many type of external malformation observed in mouse irradiated on 72 hpc and 192 hpc. However, the embryos irradiated on 24 hpc and 48 hpc, at witch embryos had less then 6 cells and were pre-compaction stage, had no sensitivity for external malformation. The threshold doses of external malformation in mouse irradiated on 72 hpc and 192 hpc, at which embryos were consisted of $16{\sim}32$ cells and neural formation stage, were $1\;W/cm^2$ and $0.5\;W/cm^2$.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.820-832
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• 2019

Estimation of accurate blood volume flow in ultrasound Doppler blood flow spectrograms is extremely important for clinical diagnostic purposes. Blood volume flow measurements require the assessment of both the velocity distribution and the cross-sectional area of the vessel. Unfortunately, the existing volume flow estimation algorithms by ultrasound lack the velocity space distribution information in cross-sections of a vessel and have the problems of low accuracy and poor stability. In this paper, a new robust ultrasound volume flow estimation method based on multigate (RMG) is proposed and the multigate technology provides detail information on the local velocity distribution. In this method, an accurate double iterative flow velocity estimation algorithm (DIV) is used to estimate the mean velocity and it has been tested on in vivo data from carotid. The results from experiments indicate a mean standard deviation of less than 6% in flow velocities when estimated for a range of SNR levels. The RMG method is validated in a custom-designed experimental setup, Doppler phantom and imitation blood flow control system. In vitro experimental results show that the mean error of the RMG algorithm is 4.81%. Low errors in blood volume flow estimation make the prospect of using the RMG algorithm for real-time blood volume flow estimation possible.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.135-144
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• 2024

Ultrasonography examination has limitations in quantifying hepatic fat quantification. Therefore, this study aimed to experimentally demonstrate whether changes in signal attenuation during ultrasound imaging can be quantified using simulated hepatic phantoms to assess hepatic fat content. Additionally, we aimed to evaluate the potential of ultrasound imaging for diagnosing hepatic fatty liver by analyzing the relationship between hepatic fat content and signal intensity in ultrasound images. In this study, we developed a total of five stimulated hepatic phantoms by homogeneously mixing water and oil. We confirmed the fat content of the phantoms using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound imaging, and measured signal intensity according to distance in ultrasound images to analyze the correlation and mean comparison between fat content and signal intensity. We observed that as the fat content increased, the ultrasound penetration intensity decreased, confirming the potential for quantifying hepatic fat content using ultrasound. Additionally, the analysis of the correlation between the measured fat content using MRI and the signal intensity measured in ultrasound images showed a high correlation. Statistical analysis in our study confirmed that as the fat content increased, the slope representing signal during ultrasound imaging (US-GRE) decreased. In this study, it was statistically confirmed that the US-GRE value of ultrasound images gradually decreases as the fat content increases, and it is believed that US-GRE can serve as a biomarker expressing fatty liver content.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.149-158
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• 2007

To investigate the permeability of lidocaine, percutaneous absorption studies were performed using excised hairless mouse skin and the penetration of lidocaine via the skin was determined. To increase the skin permeation of lidocine, the effects of $Labrasol^{(R)}$, $Labrafil^{(R)}$, $Labrafac^{(R)}$ and $Transcutol^{(R)}$ were investigated. The skin permeation of lidocaine was increased when $Labrasol^{(R)}$ and $Transcutol^{(R)}$ were used as permeation enhancer. To evaluate the influence of ultrasound, various factors such as application modes (continuous mode and pulsed mode), frequency (1.0 and 3.0 MHz) and intensity (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 w/$cm^2$) were investigated with lidocaine hydrogel. The pronounced effect of ultrasound on the skin permeation of lidocaine was observed at all ultrasound energy levels. The influence of frequency having an effect on skin permeation rate was higher in the case of using 1 MHz, 2.0 w/$cm^2$ and continuous treatment. As the intensity of ultrasound increased, the permeation of lidocaine was accelerated. The in vivo anesthetic effects were evaluated by two aspects as mechanical threshold and electrical threshold. Six healthy volunteers consented to the randomized, double-blind, and cross-over designed study in each group. In each subject, 3 groups were adapted such as K group (ultrasound with gel base only), L group (lidocaine gel) and B group (ultrasound with lidocaine gel). In conclusion, lidocaine was potent anesthetic which could be block pain threshold effectively. And ultrasound could accelerate the skin penetration of lidocaine. The phonophoretic delivery system could be a good candidate for lidocaine as a local anaesthetic to improve the skin permeation and in vivo anaesthetic effect.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2020

In this study, the contamination level was measured using an ATP meter using adenosine triphosphate bioluminescent material to find effective infection control to compensate for the disadvantages of the microbial culture method used for hygiene control of ultrasound probe. The convex probes were selected from six ultrasound probe in the hospital, and the samples were taken in real time before and after cleaning to check the contamination of the probe. In order to classify the pollution degree using the APT meter was classified by category. A total of 78 samples were collected from the ultrasound probe. When the pollution levels before and after cleaning were classified by category, 76.6% of the samples were classified into category 3·4 before cleaning, but they decreased to 23.3% after cleaning. 13.3% before cleaning was in category 1, but increased to 43.3% after cleaning. By classifying the pollution level, it was confirmed that the pollution level was significantly reduced by category. Until now, there was no suitable criterion for determining the contamination level by using ATP meter in medical machines where sample area is small and reused. In this study, criteria for each category were set to measure the contamination level of ATP meter suitable for small sample area such as ultrasound probe, so that contamination level could be determined in real time at the site. Therefore, it is considered that hygiene management for ultrasound probe can be more actively performed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2014

The piping system accounts for a large portion of the machinery structure of a plant, and is considered as a very important mechanical structure for plant safety. Accordingly, it is used in most energy plants in the nuclear, gas, and heavy chemical industries. In particular, the piping system for a nuclear plant is generally complicated and uses the reactor and its cooling system. The piping equipment is exposed to diverse loads such as weight, temperature, pressure, and seismic load from pipes and fluids, and is used to transfer steam, oil, and gas. In ultrasound infrared thermography, which is an active thermography technology, a 15-100 kHz ultrasound wave is applied to the subject, and the resulting heat from the defective parts is measured using a thermography camera. Because this technique can inspect a large area simultaneously and detect defects such as cracks and delamination in real time, it is used to detect defects in the new and renewable energy, car, and aerospace industries, and recently, in piping defect detection. In this study, ultrasound infrared thermography is used to detect information for the diagnosis of nuclear equipment and structures. Test specimens are prepared with piping materials for nuclear plants, and the optimally designed ultrasound horn and ultrasound vibration system is used to determine damages on nuclear plant piping and detect defects. Additionally, the detected images are used to improve the reliability of the surface and internal defect detection for nuclear piping materials, and their field applicability and reliability is verified.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.627-637
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• 2023

As the population and income levels rise, meat consumption steadily increases annually. However, the number of farms and farmers producing meat decrease during the same period, reducing meat sufficiency. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has begun to be applied to reduce labor and production costs of livestock farms and improve productivity. This technology can be used for rapid pregnancy diagnosis of sows; the location and size of the gestation sacs of sows are directly related to the productivity of the farm. In this study, a system proposes to determine the number of gestation sacs of sows from ultrasound images. The system used the YOLOv7-E6E model, changing the activation function from sigmoid-weighted linear unit (SiLU) to a multi-activation function (SiLU + Mish). Also, the upsampling method was modified from nearest to bicubic to improve performance. The model trained with the original model using the original data achieved mean average precision of 86.3%. When the proposed multi-activation function, upsampling, and AutoAugment were applied, the performance improved by 0.3%, 0.9%, and 0.9%, respectively. When all three proposed methods were simultaneously applied, a significant performance improvement of 3.5% to 89.8% was achieved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.397-399
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• 2021

In this study, a basic study on the development of a multi-stimulation system was conducted to suppress lung cancer cell proliferation. Stimulation was applied to lung cancer cells using a photo-stimulating system and ultrasonic waves that generate a specific frequency, and the effect of inhibiting proliferation of cells was imaged and quantitatively evaluated. As a result of the experiment, when a single LED, single ultrasound stimulus were applied and ultrasound and LED stimuli were applied at the same time, meaningful results were shown in the proliferation rate of lung cancer cells.